Adjustable light for underwater photography

Abstract

An underwater diving light includes efficient cooling of LEDs and other internal electronics by heat transfer to ambient water. The water is in contact with a metallic face plate or puck that conducts heat via contiguous metal from an LED circuit board or LED face plate. Ambient water can enter the assembly to spaces between the face plate and an intermediary plate at the front of a housing to efficiently cool the LEDs and associated electronics. In a high-output form the light can emit 8000 lumens, and in this embodiment the battery is cooled by ambient water. The face plate or puck is interchangeable, for different lighting characteristics.

Description

[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 13 / 373,477, filed Nov. 14, 2011, to be issued Oct. 21, 2014 as U.S. Pat. No. 8,864,326, which claimed benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 61 / 414,873, filed Nov. 17, 2010.BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION[0002]The invention concerns underwater video lighting, and particularly a unit producing a powerful beam from LED sources, with the ability to adjust light filtration by rotation of a front filter ring. The underwater light may produce flood light at about 4000 lumens and weighs less than two pounds.[0003]A number of underwater lighting devices are available for divers, some with rechargeable batteries and some also including flip-down color filters, such as red filters.[0004]When an underwater photographer, including a video photographer, dives below about thirty feet during daylight, virtually all red has been filtered out of the ambient light. Because of the color adjustment (white balance) tha...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is a light unit for underwater photography that improves color balance by adjusting the colors in the video image to match the ambient light levels. This is particularly useful when diving below about thirty feet during daylight, where the red color has been filtered out. The light unit is designed to be sealed at the factory and never opened in the field, improving its reliability for the diver.

Problems solved by technology

The tight LED array generates considerable heat, making the LED mounting board and surrounding areas hotter than would be the case if the LEDs were spread around the entire face of the housing.

Opening and closing a pressure seal repeatedly can and does introduce physical damage or dirt and grime to the seal, providing a path to potential flooding and corrosion.

Without proper heat dissipation the drive electronics can overheat and fail.

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